


Stand There (And Watch me Burn)

by blakefancier



Series: Love the Way You Lie Series [1]
Category: Captain America (2011)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Slavery, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-26
Updated: 2011-08-26
Packaged: 2017-10-23 01:55:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/244958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blakefancier/pseuds/blakefancier
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Skrulls invade and Howard Stark has a front row seat as the world goes to hell.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stand There (And Watch me Burn)

**Author's Note:**

> So I had this idea yesterday. A dark, dark idea and it's been churning in my brain all day. It's all about the nature of surrender and heroics and what people will do to keep the people they love safe from harm. It's a painful story that is going to be hell to write. Anyway, I thought I'd give everyone a taste of the universe. I'm hoping I'll manage to get the damn thing written out quickly.

Howard Stark knew despair.

It was watching Earth's greatest hope kneel before the Skrull Emperor and swear his allegiance.

He didn't believe it at first. He told the others that Steve wouldn't betray them, that it must be some sort of trick. A trap. He knew Steve, they'd become friends in the months leading up to the Super Soldier experiment.

Steve was the best man Howard had ever known. He really did believe in truth, justice, and the American Way.

So when the Skrulls came for them, he didn't expect to see Steve leading the way.

He remembered that day in flashes. The smell of blood, the heat of a bullet grazing his arm, the way his shoes slid on Erskine's blood when he found the doctor on the floor. He knelt there a long time, Erskine's blood soaking into the knees of his pants. He remembered being dragged away from the body, kicking and screaming. And he remembered being presented to Steve.

Howard spat in Steve's face. "Traitor," he said, his voice breaking. "Erskine's dead. I hope you're happy you son of a bitch!"

Steve just wiped his face. "Send him to Allocation."

He learned soon enough what that meant. He was too intelligent to kill, too important, so the Skrulls fitted him with an obedience chip, right at the base of his skull, and gave him to one of the turncoats, Obadiah Stane. Guardianship, they called it, not slavery.

It didn't fool anyone.

Obadiah taught him the limits of his body, taught him that humiliation and pain weren't necessarily deterrents to pleasure. Howard learned that you could love and hate someone both at the same time.

At the end of the third year of occupation, the Skrulls began a breeding program. Howard was paired with a cool-eyed young woman named Maria.

Later, when he found out she was pregnant, he apologized.

She shook her head and smiled. "I'm just glad Obadiah won guardianship of the baby. This is bad enough without a hostage."

He didn't understand what she meant, not until he watched as his infant son was injected with a neural implant and handed over to a gloating Obadiah.

Howard Stark knew despair. It was the knowledge that he would never be able to protect his son from the monsters. It was the knowledge that if the monsters demanded it, he would hand over Tony without a second thought.


End file.
